"Smart" TV.... New purchase!!

[james_s]

The issue of course is that it's not always as simple as just not using the "smart" portion when it becomes obsolete. It is tightly integrated into the TV, I've seen them get stuck in update loops and such where the entire TV was unusable. I don't know if they're all like this but it's enough for me to avoid them.

Yes Youtube also gathers your data, a lot of people seem oblivious to the fact that Google is an advertising company and every product they make is a trojan horse of sorts designed around the primary goal of harvesting marketing data, this data is worth billions. I never log into any google site unless I need to and as soon as I'm finished I always log out. Most people have no idea the kind of detailed profiles that are gathered about them, there's big money in personal data and profiles outlining your living, entertainment and shopping habits. The more closely tied to a particular identifiable individual the more valuable the data is.

[edy]

Seems like CNN has made this front page news today.... have a look:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/02/politics/smart-tv-fbi-warning-cyber-monday/index.html

ARTICLE TITLE:  "That smart TV you just bought may be spying on you, FBI warns".

[Halcyon]

Although what's the difference with any other electronic devices these days, like desktop computers & laptops etc.  After 2 years, they are almost out of date, and  you can buy something nearly twice as good now, and for half the price!

There is a distinct difference between being "out of date" and "inoperable". I still use computers regularly which are over 15 years old and they do the task that is required of them and unlike a TV, I can choose from a long list of operating systems and software which I can install on them, without any reliance on third-parties to keep developing or updating them.

Like I said earlier, if it does what you want it to do and it was the right price, then it was a good purchase.

In my opinion, televisions/monitors have one job to do and that is to accept a video input and display it at an acceptable quality. I don't even care about built-in speakers. It's like a fridge or a dishwasher, their job is to keep food cold and clean dishes respectively. There is absolutely no reason why either of them should have cameras or microphones, have the ability to run "apps" and be connected to the internet.

IoT isn't new, but it is stupid. Anyone remember the original Chumby? Released in 2008, it was an internet connected alarm clock. It did some other things like download emails, read the news, weather etc... all until the service was canned in 2012 (it has since been relaunched in some limited capacity and some people did develop alternate firmware for it), but at the end of the day, it was an alarm clock.

I also find it quite entertaining that many people who buy these kinds of things are some of the most vocal opponents against Governments listening in and collecting data on people, yet they voluntarily pay good money to put listening devices and cameras in their own homes to be potentially exploited by anyone on the internet.

[edy]

Much of it is driven by marketing wankers who need to create some additional features to sell a new model of their product. For example look at the electric toothbrushes with BlueTooth enabled app connectivity. Then they invent a reason to have an app (shows you where you are brushing and how long). How useful is this crap and does it make any difference? It's really just a way for them to stick a marketing portal into your phone to get your contact, email or push notifications to you, sell you brush head replacements and so on. It serves the corporation more than the user.

Then there is the Griffin Moto RC car... I have 3 of these! Why? Because they are dumping them like hotcakes by local stores for pennies on the dollar. They are fun, fast and nicely built but they rely on an iPhone app to control them via Bluetooth. I happen to have a bunch of old phones and grabbed the app while it still works... but Griffin discontinued this model and future support is unlikely. Which means eventually you may not have the capability to even remotely control the car! So they can only sell them for peanuts now.

Look here:

https://secure.sayal.com/STORE2/View_SHOP.php?SKU=246411

That's $9.95 CAN which is like $7.50 US. They are worth buying just to hack the parts. I only have iPhone but maybe an Android APK is floating around for the Bluetooth remote that can be downloaded in case App Store doesn't have it.

[EDIT: Turns out only iPhone/iPad app, so your $h!t-out-of -luck if it gets pulled from Apple or becomes incompatible, and there is no way to grab the app like an APK rip)

[Halcyon]

It serves the corporation more than the user.

Never have truer words been uttered. As they say, nothing is free in this world. If a company is giving something away for "free" to all its users, there is almost always a catch.

Just like social media, users think they are the customer, when they are actually the product. These companies make huge sums of money by selling and using your personal information and content.

No, thanks.